Darkness Shall Thrive
by PurpleComet5
Summary: SURVIVE-Part 3. Thinking that the worst had already happen was a grave mistake. An old enemy rises yet again, as Shadow and Sonic try to puzzle what exactly is going in the past, present, and future. But the path they walk, may be the one of darkness itself, for the mysteries that are revealed, would mark their lives forever. Rated T for violence.
1. A New Day

**Hello! It´s been a while. Sorry... Also forgive me for not putting anything for Valentines´ Day **

**Anyway, thanks for the wait and for all the support. And if you have already forgot the story, here´s something to refresh your mind...**

* * *

**Previously on SURVIVE…**

"Egg…man… STOP…THIS!"

"Oh, Sonic. Why should I?"

-O-O-O-

"With Eggman leading the EVIL, and making the world unstable, the Master Emerald was also affected…"

"So, what do we need to do?"

"We need just the…"

"The seven Chaos Emeralds…"

-O-O-O-

_"__He can´t take the Chaos Emerald!"_

_"__What are you talking about?! __He is a hero!"_

-O-O-O-

_"__Soldier, report your status, OVER!"_

"We´ve got it…"

-O-O-O-

"I want to know, why am I here? Where are my inhibitor rings? You are the one behind the secret of the fake emeralds, right? Do you have any agreements with Dr. Eggman?! Why is the world in flames?!"

-O-O-O-

"Shadow?"

-O-O-O-

"Shadow will know what to do with this. G.U.N. doesn´t need it anymore."

-O-O-O-

"PROJECT SHADOW, heh? Thanks, Sonic."

-O-O-O-

"I´ll do it."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Totally…"

"What?! Do what exactly?! "What are you doing, Shadow?!"

"Goodbye, doctor!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

-O-O-O-

/

"Why EVERY TIME something happens, Station Square ends ruined?!"

-O-O-O-

"I- I can´t believe it! How are you lil´buddy?"

"Pretty great, Sonic! It´s been a long time."

-O-O-O-

"Blaze!"

"Sonic?!"

"Long time no see!"

"Indeed."

-O-O-O-

"Haven´t this dimension suffered from changes?"

"Changes?"

"Yeah."

"You mean earthquakes? Like the ones that Eggman and Eggman Nega were causing in your dimension?"

"Exactly."

"Well, yes. But that´s because of Dark Gaia."

"Dark Gaia?"

-O-O-O-

"We´re going in."

"Are you crazy, faker?! You know that if we get in there, GUN will hunt us down."

"Why? What´s the matter?"

-O-O-O-

_"__PROJECT SHADOW. Wanted for being seriously dangerous for mankind and for killing one of the most important GUN Commanders: Abraham Tower. Created by the world´s renowned scientist, Gerald Robotnik, aboard Space Colony ARK, 50 years ago. Orders are: Capture him, dead or alive."_

-O-O-O-

"That´s not a problem. I mean… You won´t live forever, will you?"

"Yes, I will."

"Wow… it must be horrible, right?"

"Sometimes you just forget about it and move on. That´s how it works."

-O-O-O-

"Um, where am I?"

"Yikes! It DID work! Whoa, who the heck are you?!" Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… Don´t tell me! Let me guess. Mm… you´re Sonic´s brother! No wait, cousin! Yes, you´re his cousin, right?! Strewth! Are they dead?! Blaze, mate, talk to me, please!"

"Ugh… what happened?"

"Oh blimey! You´re okay!"

-O-O-O-

"Quiet, Mark! I don´t care what you´re saying. I want it to feel the pain I feel every day of my life…"

-O-O-O-

"Think about what you´ve done, Jason. You are better than this, I ´m sure about it…"

-O-O-O-

"What are you doing here, faker? I said get out! Sonic?!"

"If we are going to end this, we´ll finish it, together."

-O-O-O-

"It all ends here, right?"

"Let´s hope so."

-O-O-O-

/

"Come with me, Shadow. Let us punish this foolish world of humanity. It is only fair to give back what was intended for you. You have every right to want justice."

"That´s absurd… Wait, no… Actually, you´re right… Let´s punish the world for what they did!"

"Yes, Shadow! Let´s end with humanity!"

* * *

**Even I get the chills... Hope you enjoy the final part of SURVIVE!**

**PurpleComet5 presents:**

**"****SURVIVE"**

**PART 3 **

**DARKNESS SHALL THRIVE**

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 1: A New Day-

"NO, PLEASE… NO MORE! *pant* *pant* SHADOW, PLEASE!"

Shadow smirked and clenched his fist, raising it up high, and punched down to the wounded soldier that was screaming in pain, to death.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

The hedgehog turned and walked out of there. In his way, he encountered with his shadowy friend.

"Well done, Shadow. Now the only thing that´s left is to find their main base and take Station Square as hostage."

"Yeah. We´ll end with their miserable life once and for all."

Mephiles laughed and both ended destroying the base, leaving no one alive.

-O-O-O-

"Are you kidding me? Look, we have tried it before and we had to quit it because of Dark Gaia and all that stuff. But now we have nothing to worry about!"

"Yet!"

"Shadow! Just eat the freaking chili dog!"

"No."

Sonic smacked Shadow on the face, trying not to make a dramatic scene in front of Chun-nan´s people. Shadow returned him the hit.

"I´m not eating your damn chili dog!"

"Curse you, Shadow!"

"Heh…"

"What´s so funny?!"

"Oh, nothing."

Sonic rolled his eyes and dropped himself on a bench.

"Geez… How much have we´ve been together?"

Shadow thought for a moment, dropping the poor chili dog in the trash.

"Probably a month."

"Great." Sonic said sarcastically. "I´m starting to hate you again, you know?"

Shadow sat beside Sonic and smiled.

"Just because you didn´t get me to eat the chili dog, it doesn´t mean you got to hate me again, faker."

"Fine! We´re friends... But if you try to make me do something I don´t like, you know what my answer will be."

"Don´t worry, Sonic. I doubt that will happen."

The hedgehogs shook hands. It was a beautiful afternoon to hear the birds sing and watch the people walking across the park. The sky was clear blue and there were no clouds at all. You could see some kids eating ice-cream and cotton candy while playing around and riding their bikes, being looked out by their caring parents. The world was once again working as usual. Both hedgehogs hadn´t seen Tikal at all after all was fixed, though.

A girl wearing a press hat and a brown coat approached to Sonic and Shadow; she was holding a small booklet and a black pen. She wore big glasses and had long red hair matching her crystal, blue eyes.

"He-Hello there! I´m Samantha Johnson, nice to meet you. I´m a reporter back in Central City, and I´ve been looking for you two for a long time. The president told me that he wants to see you, and I would also want you to answer some questions, if you allow me to…"

Sonic nodded and asked: "If the president wants to see us, why didn´t he come and look for us himself?"

Samantha didn´t know what to answer. She was just asked to look for both hedgehogs, the government didn´t tell her more.

"I certainly don´t know. I beg your pardon."

"It´s okay, girl! Don´t be sad, I was just kidding."

Shadow looked at him confused. He stood up and walked away. Samantha tried to stop him, but Sonic grabbed her arm, letting her know that it was okay.

"Just leave him be."

She nodded. "So, can you answer the questions?"

"Sure. I mean, why not?"  
Samantha passed some pages of her booklet and started:

"Okay, let´s begin. Question number one: Why are you so determined to save the world whenever it´s in danger at any circumstances?"

-O-O-O-

Shadow sighed and continued walking. He thought about the next thing he and Sonic could do. It was pretty boring as Sonic would say. Maybe if Eggman Nega returned it wouldn´t be that bad. His blue counterpart would be able to see Blaze again, and that actually wouldn´t be horrible. That purple cat touched Shadow´s heart somehow. She had been really nice to him, even if Sonic told him that she was kind of serious.

Suddenly, Shadow saw a couple of guards talking to each other:

"This has to be top secret, you hear me, Austin?"

"Roger that. Why is that, Harold?"

"Because GUN will come after us if they know. This is really important for our government to keep it quiet at least for a few years."

The guards noticed how Shadow was watching them and walked away. He decided to follow them, leaving Sonic with Samantha.

-O-O-O-

"Hahahahaha, you´re so funny, Sonic!"

"You know what can I say? I am a charming hedgehog after all!"

"Yeah… Anyway, I have one more question for you."

"Okay. What is it?"

* * *

**Please, review? :3**


	2. What Seemed a Normal Day

**I DO NOT OWN ANYTHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING. I think... Just Samantha and other crappy extra characters :3 Enjoy!**

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 2: What seemed a normal Day-

Shadow sneaked into the hidden base where the two soldiers were heading to. It was most likely a G.U.N base, except with less security and not giant robots patrolling the area. He easily sneaked inside and kept following both of the men until they reached an area of maximum security. Shadow could see that it led to a secret room which probably was the main laboratory for the looks of it. He entered to the place going through the ventilation system and landed in a desk. Luckily, there was no one there, for the two soldiers stayed behind eating lunch.

There were all kinds of experiments. There were these slimy worms in glass containers and what seemed a monkey going turbo inside its cage. The other creatures were most likely the Artificial Chaos. Shadow remembered how his creator lost control over them and raided the entire colony. He had to take care of them alongside his friend.

There was this odd looking liquid inside a glass cube at one of the room´s corner. Shadow got closer to it. The liquid was dense and obscure with a purple color. There was even like smoke coming out of it.

"This seems… somehow… familiar." Shadow thought. He touched the cube with his index finger and the liquid destroyed its "cage", going crazy around the room like a fish escaping from a shark. It attacked Shadow, trying to go through him, but the hedgehog dodged its attack.

The creature stopped moving and Shadow stared at it deeply.

-O-O-O-

"So what´s the question, miss?" Sonic asked nervously.

"Well, this may seem strange but… Oh, you know what? Forget about it. I´ll be on my way back to Central City." Samantha shyly said standing up and walking away. Sonic also stood up and ran towards her stopping her to keep moving.

"I insist, Samantha. Don´t you wanna know everything about the two heroes who saved the day again?"

Samantha sighed and kneeled down to be at Sonic´s size.

"Well, I´ve told you that´s it´s weird, and maybe crazy…"

"Oh, please. I love crazy stuff!" Sonic exclaimed.

The girl shut her eyes for a moment. Sonic waited impatiently for the question. When she opened her eyes, they appeared to be from a different color. Sonic hid his smile while staring at her face. Her eyes changed to a pale green color that looked straight a Sonic with an evil smile. Sonic backed down a little bit.

"Sa-Samantha? Are you feeling alright?" The blue hedgehog asked nervously.

"Oh, my darling Sonic. I have never been better!" She exclaimed bending down creepily approaching to the blue blur. "Do you want to hear the question now?"

Sonic nodded clearing his throat. Samantha opened her mouth and with a hoarse voice asked:

"What are you capable to sacrifice?"

-O-O-O-

Shadow looked confused at the creature. "What do you mean by that?"

The liquid experiment got closer to the black hedgehog, wrapping him with his dense texture. The creature asked again:

"What are you capable to sacrifice?"

-O-O-O-

"What are we talking about here? Sacrifice for what?" Sonic asked.

-O-O-O-

"For the future."

-O-O-O-

"The future?"

"Yes, for the next generations and for the planet."

-O-O-O-

"Who are you?" Shadow asked while staring at the creature still going in circles around him.

"I am your worst nightmare…"

"?"

"I am…" the creature said as taking its new form. The black hedgehog gazed astonished how it was taking his shadow to be completed. When done, the creature exclaimed: "… Mephiles the Dark!"

* * *

"Shadow, I won´t let you get in my way! Why are you doing this?! Don´t you remember that this world is devastated by your "friend" here? What´s gotten into you? Tell me!" Silver shouted wanting an explanation from the black hedgehog.

Shadow was about to enter to Station Square when Silver suddenly appeared. The black hedgehog was demanded to answer a lot of questions.

"Hmph… I don´t have to give explanations to people like you."

Silver grabbed him with his telekinesis and threw him to some rubber that were in pile in the outsides of the city. Shadow stood up and threw him a massive Chaos Spear which made the silver hedgehog crash into a building. He spit out blood.

"Don´t you know that there are people who live in fear here? They all need a real hero. I´m not one. All I can do for them is to help them to find shelter. But you can do more than that!" He shouted as Shadow walked to him giving the other hedgehog a rage look.

"I´m not Shadow." The black hedgehog exclaimed giving Silver a punch in the stomach. Silver, with the little air he had left, asked Shadow:

"If you´re not the Shadow I know, then, who are you?"

The black blur smirked.

* * *

Shadow started to feel pain in his head. He knew that name. He knew the creature. The hedgehog started to go deep in his thoughts, but couldn´t remember the other at all. But, his form, his shape, his eyes, were so familiar. Why? He took a few steps back and tried to concentrate.

"Me-Mephiles the Dark?"

"I bet you don´t remember me, do you?" Mephiles asked convinced that Shadow couldn´t recall meeting him. "Oh, I get it. You don´t remember me because the timeline was erased."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Shadow gasped.

"You are the one that helps me out in the future…"

"You are saying nonsense! Why would I help you?"

-O-O-O-

Samantha disappeared in black smoke before Sonic could do anything about it.

"The next generation…. What was she talking about?" Sonic thought. He soon realized that all the people was staring awkwardly at him and what had been the girl that was interviewing the hedgehog. He took off a little far from there and sat down near a tree.

"That was… interesting, I think…" Sonic tried to puzzle the situation until he remembered that Shadow had gone someplace else. He looked for him around the place, but the black hedgehog was nowhere to be found.

-O-O-O-

"You´ll find out soon enough." Mephiles said and laughed. Shadow tried to attack him but the creature vanished in the air. Shadow closed his eyes and thought:

"Mephiles… who is he?"

And he returned to the park where Sonic was looking for him.

"There you are! Geez, I keep on losing you." Sonic exclaimed giving Shadow a pat on the back.

"Umm, just poking around. I found some experiments in that base over there." Shadow said pointing at the military facility behind them.

"Oh, okay. Yikes! Let me tell you what happened. It was really strange, though."

"Okay…" Shadow sighed not looking forward to this conversation.

"Well, Samantha, the girl that was interviewing me, suddenly was possessed by someone."

"Possessed?"

"Yeah, she suddenly started to talk with a different voice, smiling kind of evil and her eyes turned flaming green!"

"That´s bizarre… Did it seemed evil?"

"It was the creepiest thing I´ve ever seen, Shad!"

"Something similar happened to me. One of the experiments that I found was a mysterious shadow that looked the same way you´re telling the girl transformed into. Did it say its name?"

"Not at all. I was gonna ask, but she disappeared."

"Do you remember someone named Mephiles?"

Sonic thought for a moment. "No, but it sure sounds familiar."

"Yes, it does."

Sonic looked at Shadow confused on what was happening and asked him another thing.

"Was he talking about the future?"

"Yes…"

"Okay, what is going on here?!" Sonic asked exclaiming furiously to the sky.

"Yelling won´t help, Sonic. It seems like we got another mystery to solve here."

Sonic nodded.

"Yes, I guess it´s time for another adventure!"

"Your last adventures hadn´t been that exciting for you to get like that."

"You ruined my moment, Shadow!"

* * *

**I simply love writing this kind of stuff. You may be thinking: "What is going on?!" Well, as Sonic said Samantha was posessed by Mephiles right at the moment when Shadow got him out. So yeah... Oh, and we also see the return of Silver the Hedgehog, YAY!**

**If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me. **

**Review?**


	3. Unknown

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 3: Unknown-

Silver passed out. The black hedgehog carried him and took him with Mephiles, on top of a building. He surprised the evil creature by bringing the white hedgehog there.

"So, you really got rid of him." Mephiles said. "Nice work, Shadow."

"You know that I´m not Shadow. I´m…" before the black blur finished, Mephiles interrupted by saying:

"Yes, I know you aren´t. But you remind me of him a lot."

"I wonder why…" The black hedgehog said sarcastically. He knew exactly why he reminded his partner of Shadow. It was pretty obvious.

"What do you want me to do with him?"

"Mm… leave him outside of Central City. When he wakes up, there will be no tomorrow."

* * *

"I really want a chili dog."

"You don´t need to eat those things daily. You´ll get fat." Shadow smirked and giggled quietly.

"Whatever, Shad. I love chili dogs more than myself! I would die for them!"

"Sonic, you´re being dramatic…"

"Just shut up… Are we there yet?"

"It should be a couple blocks ahead."

The hedgehogs were looking for a Chaos Emerald to see if they could find this Mephiles guy. It had been odd how he talked to both of them at the same time, like telling them to beware from something, or someone.

"There it is." Shadow said pointing at the white emerald, floating in secret behind a house column. He grabbed it and stared deeply to it. Sonic got closer to Shadow and also looked at the Chaos Emerald.

"What´s wrong? Does it have a stain or something?" Sonic asked.

"No, it´s just that… There is strange chaos energy here."

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly, a purple portal appeared in front of them. The town´s people ran away leaving the hedgehogs alone. The sky turned red as huge clouds covered the sun. There were screams heard from the distance as the wind flew violently through the city, making papers fly all over the place. The same wind pushed Shadow backwards, making him stumble and land on the ground. Sonic, instead of being pushed by the wind, he was being sucked by the portal. He grabbed the column where the Chaos Emerald was hiding but failed to resist.

"Shadow! I can´t hold… any…longer!"

Shadow made an effort of standing up and help his friend, but it was useless.

"Sorry, Sonic! I… I can´t reach!"

The blue hedgehog was slowly letting go of the column staring at the slightly scared Shadow. Sonic was dragged into the portal. Before it closed itself, Shadow managed to throw the white Chaos Emerald to him, thinking it was worth a shot. Sonic caught it, and the black hole closed, trailing the blue hedgehog behind.

The wind stopped, and the sun was shining again, for the clouds had vanished. The papers now were lying on the floor peacefully. The people returned slowly to the town, and Shadow stood up.

"What´d just happen?!" He screamed. "Was that… Mephiles?!" Shadow turned to the town´s people to see shocked faces staring at him with fear on what had happened. He walked away and leaned on a tree that was besides Chun-nan´s waterfall. He turned again to the people. They returned to their stands and others were picking up the papers from the floor. Shadow closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He began to slowly go down the tree´s trunk and finally sat down in the spiky grass. He sadly thought:

_"What am I going to do now?"_

-O-O-O-

Sonic fell from the red, orangey sky and landed on his face on a pile of dust in a rubbish dump.

"Ouch… Wha-What just happened?" Sonic said grabbing his head. "Oh my gosh…"

He stared at how the city was burning. It was raging on fire. The black smoke rose to the sky filling the air with its horrible smell. There were no people to be seen and there was even lava going in circles through the city. There was no sun, but no clouds. He was the only one there. The sounds of the cement and ceiling burning was disturbing. Sonic started walking through the abandoned city looking for somebody, but there was not a single soul around. It kind of looked like a graveyard that had been destroyed.

"Hello?!" Sonic said exclaiming towards the buildings. But nothing. _"Where the heck am I?" _

He kept on walking and found what he was not expecting to see: The White House, or what was left of it. He ran towards it and touched the door´s handle. Before opening it, he took the Chaos Emerald and looked at it sadly. He squeezed it and opened the door violently.

-O-O-O-

Silver woke up to find himself trapped beneath some iron bars that had fallen from a building´s structure. He threw them away and stood up holding his hurt stomach. He remembered what that black hedgehog had said:

_"__I´m not Shadow."_

Was it true? Or was Shadow just lying to him? He didn´t even know now. The only thing was that Station Square was in danger, for Mephiles had a plan to destroy the entire Earth, starting with the main city of the world.

Silver flew towards the sky and looked around. He saw a blue blur walking towards the White House.

"A survivor…" Silver thought and dashed to the building´s back entrance and sneaked to the person that might be an evil foe, or a scared fellow.

He slowly walked through the main hallway and waited for the person to open the door. He prepared and stood in a guard position, for there could be violence, for real.

-O-O-O-

Sonic opened the door and found the silver hedgehog sighing in relief.

"Oh, gosh. It´s you Sonic…" Silver said exciting. He approach to the other hedgehog and stretched his arm. Sonic shook hands with him and smiled.

"What are you doing here? Problems back in the present?"

"In the present?" Sonic said confused.

"Wait, you don´t know, right?"

"What do I not know?!"

"You´re in the future, Sonic!"

Sonic gasped. "I can´t believe it… What the…"

Silver backed down and asked him again:

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know… Just passing through to check how ya are doing."

"Really?"

"Of course not, Silver! I didn't even know I was in the future!" Sonic said face palming himself.

"Geez, sorry."

"No problem, dude. Now, why ARE YOU here? And what happened? I thought you said the future was fixed now."

"Well, it pretty much happened 2 years ago. After Iblis was destroyed, Mephiles focused in destroying the human race."

"Do you know Mephiles?! And, who´s Iblis?" Sonic questioned fast.

"Well, of course I know Mephiles. He´s responsible for all you see around. And Iblis, is well… It´s a long story, we better sit down somewhere."

Sonic nodded and asked: "Is the president around?"

Silver shook his head. "There is no president anymore. There are barely people to see here. The world is doomed."

* * *

**Is it true? Is Shadow lying? Find out in the next episode of: Darkness Shall Thrive!**

**Coming Soon: How hell was Created**

**...**

**Sorry. I had to do it XD**

**Please, review? Any quesitons?**


	4. How Hell Was Created

**MUAHAHAHA. You´ll find out a disturbing reality in this episode! DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA! ... Enjoy :3**

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 4: How hell was created-

Silver led Sonic to the old presidential room. Everything was destroyed and abandoned. The books that were ordered in the wood bookshelves were on the floor and dusty. The president´s chair was gone, and the papers he used to order in his personal desk were burned or torn. And the picture of Sonic and Shadow in front of the White House, was broken. Sonic grabbed it and Silver said:

"It is said that the presidents throughout the years kept that photo with them, to make themselves remember who you two were and keep the planet safe…"

Sonic gave him a sad look and put the photo on the desk. He asked:

"Isn´t Shadow around here? I mean, the future Shadow?"

Silver shook his head. "No. He´s gone."

"I thought he said he was immortal."

"No, what I meant is that I don´t know anything about him. Actually, I haven´t even met future Shadow, yet…"

"Mm… what do you think happened?"

"Maybe he decided to leave Earth?"

"No, that doesn´t make sense. He would never do that…"

"It seems that you got to know him a lot recently, haven´t you?"

Sonic removed the papers and sat on the desk. "Well, it had been an awful month. So, I´ve spent more time with him."

Silver didn´t bother to ask why. He had too many things going around his head to feel more disturbed about horrible events. "Well, do you want to know what happened?" Sonic nodded.

"Okay… this might take a while…"

_-FLASHBACK-_

Silver was flying around checking over the world to see if anything was bad. He stopped to take a break in Chun-nan and walked through the park. He was happy that the future was safe. He was the only one that remembered what happened with the Ifrit, for his timeline was fixed. So now, he was really enjoying this. He bought a vanilla ice-cream and told the seller:

"What a marvelous day, isn´t it?"

The seller nodded. "Yes, it´s quite gorgeous. The birds are singing and the sun is shining brightly. Let´s hope the raining season isn´t that bad!"

Silver nodded. "Well, I´ll be on my way. Thanks!"

"You´re welcome, Silver! Come back soon, boy!"

Silver flew away waving goodbye and headed to Route 280 in Central City and sat down in a bench. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning his head back and relaxed. He fell asleep for a while until a lady came and woke him up.

"Mr. Silver! Mr. Silver! Please, wake up!"

Silver opened his eyes and saw how the lady was frightened and other people were around him looking scared.

"Something´s wrong. Look at the sky!" The lady exclaimed pointing to it. Silver looked up and stared for a long 30 seconds… the sky was turning red. He stood up and approached to the edge of the bridge. Suddenly, the ground started shaking in a very strong way for a while. The people got even more scared and covered their heads screaming. Silver determinat of what he had to do, flew to where the sun was and found a humongous purple cloud covering it.

"What the…"

The cloud had covered the entire sky and it started to shoot fireballs out of his "body". Silver tried to attack it but it was no use. The cloud was vapor, so he couldn´t do any harm to it. He also tried to grab it with his psychokinesis, and it actually did work. He managed to tame the creature and threw it into the ocean. The cloud returned back to him but now in a dense, liquid form that moved like a snake. It stroke Silver making him fall to the bridge. He stood up and punched the creature, making it crash on a building. It fell to the ground and "stood up".

"Very impressive…" It said. Silver landed in front of him and asked desperately:

"Who are you? And why are you destroying the city?!"

The creature started to take the silhouette of the well-known Shadow the Hedgehog, but darker. Like if it was his shadow… And instead of red-striped quills, his were gray.

Silver surprised, asked again holding him with his power.

"Who, are you? And WHY are you destroying, the city?!"

It smirked, but didn´t answer. Silver put it down softly and waited for an answer. Long minutes passed and the city was being set on fire by the thousands of fireballs the cloud sent. Silver heard how the firefighters were telling to each other that they couldn´t hold the fire any longer. He also heard how the buildings were crumbling down.

"You are wasting your time here." The creature finally said with a deep voice.

"I´m not leaving until you tell me everything I want to know."

The creature laughed and said: "Well, it seems that my plan has worked perfectly, Iblis. I will avenge you. Finally, after all this years…"

Silver looked at him in question. "Who´s Iblis?"

"My friend, my other me. The one that was killed by you ungrateful humans, a long time ago. Justice is finally served!"

The creature dashed to Silver and started to choke him with its bare hands. Silver felt how he was losing air as the other pressed stronger every second. Before fainting, the creature introduced itself:

"I´m Mephiles, Mephiles the Dark! And with the Chaos Emeralds, I will destroy you all!"

_-END-OF-FLASHBACK-_

"The next thing I remember is waking up in a hotel room surrounded by people that had been injured by fire. I stood up and turned on a T.V. It was too late. The whole world had been devastated by Mephiles. So, this Mephiles the Dark wants revenge, for the humans killed his friend, Iblis. He took Shadow´s form and murdered most of the living beings he saw in the streets all around the planet."

Sonic remained on silence.

"So, what we don´t know is that: Number one. How did he know how Shadow looked like? Two. Why is he planning to destroy the planet for revenge and why did he take so long in doing it? And three. Is he planning to blow up the whole Earth?" Silver finished.

Sonic stood up. "Well, this is messed up. He took Shadow´s silhouette?! How does somebody do that?"

"Who knows…"

"Well, anyway… We have to defeat him, now!"

"Didn´t you listen to me? He already has all the Chaos Emeralds except for the one you have, I think. We are basically dead because of that. And even still, we might lose. I thought the future Shadow was siding with Mephiles, but it appears that it´s another person."

"Mm… So there is another Shadow? Geez…"

"He is just like him, so I had figured out that it was actually him, but he isn´t."

"Then, who is it?"

"I don´t know. There are so many questions…"

"Well, the first thing we need to do is to find the REAL future Shadow. He might help us out."

Silver rolled his eyes. "I told you that I haven´t met him yet. He is nowhere to be found!"

Sonic bent down and started moving the papers he had thrown. He passed some of them fast, giving them a quick glance.

"What are you doing, Sonic?"

"I´m looking for a G.U.N file. In the present they have been bothering us, so I guess there might be a clue on where to find Shadow."

Silver gave a "seriously?" face to Sonic and said kind of angry:

"G.U.N? Those guys are truly pathetic. They disappeared a long time ago. There are even legends! Mephiles destroyed them all. Recently, he and the other hedgehog murdered a secret GUN group that was hiding in the sewers."

Sonic stood up reading a paper he had found. He read it fast and gasped. Silver noticed and asked what was wrong. Sonic answered:

"I… I think I know where to find Shadow."

Silver approached to him and looked at the paper. He began to read at loud from the top of the page:

_"__PROJECT SHADOW: The research project has been finally captured and sealed away in the old Prison Island´s underground base. It is asleep in the core of the base in a maximum secure sealer which cannot be opened with anything, except for the main key that can only be in hands of the commander. _

_When the project was captured, it was not announced to the president, for it could be dangerous for him knowing that G.U.N had now taken down Project Shadow, and that it could kill him._

_The robot capable of taking down Project Shadow, E-123 Omega, fulfilled its purpose and currently it is guarding the sealer. Anyone trying to approach should be annihilated by the security bot. To deactivate it, speak with one of your superiors._

_Note: Project Shadow must be sealed away forever. If someone tries to awaken him, it would probably be the end of humanity itself. _

_The sealer is made out of a powerful, pink material that can be capable of standing a nuclear bomb explosion. It is designed to freeze the body that is being kept inside forever. Unfortunately, the side effects are that the gas protecting the sealer might cause memory loss if being with iinside t for a long time, and maybe making the person violent._

_In short, watch out and try not to get close to the area where Project Shadow is located. If you´re part of GUN, never reawaken it. It might cause the end of everything."_

Silver finished reading the article. There was a long silence. Both hedgehogs were in shock for what they read.

"They, are being DRAMATIC, VERY DRAMATIC…" Sonic said astonished.

"Yeah, but… why did the president have this if he wasn´t supposed to know about it?"

"Maybe before the new president moved to the White House, the commander accidentally left the paper in the desk and the president didn´t notice. That´s the only explainable reason."

"Yes, you´re right. This also explains why I haven´t met future Shadow. He was sealed away before I was born."

"We have to rescue him."

"Yeah, of course. But we really have to be careful about this. You read it with me, the area where he is located is in a high security perimeter."

Sonic felt anger inside of him. He couldn´t keep it secret…

"Why did they do this to him?! We have saved the world together so many times, and they still make him suffer?! Darn it!"

Silver grabbed Sonic´s shoulder and said:

"You know that he´s powerful, Sonic. I´m also raging inside. It is just not fair. But I guess that´s how this world works. People live in fear, so they try to hunt down any dangerous thing they find. But, don´t worry. We are rescuing him right now, whatever it takes. And if we find that G.U.N is still down there, we´ll talk serious business with them, and finish this once and for all."

Sonic nodded. Silver was being inspirational.

"Well, we´ve got to get out of Central City…"

"Central City? Oh, yeah… it is now Crisis City."

"Says who?"

"The people that remain standing."

"That´s depressing… Anyway, let´s go. I know where Prison Island is."

* * *

***heavy breathing***

**And what did we learn today? That Silver met other Shadow, not the real one! OHMYGOD.**

**Ohhhhhh, I really loved to write Darkness Shall Thrive. Did I tell you this is my favorite part out of all three?**

**Please, review? Questions?**


	5. No One is Left Behind

**I´m really hyped right now. We are already halfway to the ending!**

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 5: No one is Left Behind-

"Silver… I´ve been thinking." Sonic asked when Silver opened the door that lead to the underground base on the destructed Prison Island.

"Yeah?"

"Shadow said he met Mephiles, so it explains why he looks so much like him."

"I guess it makes sense… But right now, we´re rescuing _this_ Shadow, okay?"

"Okay."

Silver entered first. He levitated down and looked around. There was no danger so he announced to Sonic that he could come down. He jumped and landed on Silver´s head.

"Ouch! Move, Sonic!" Silver exclaimed while pulling the blue hedgehog off.

"Sorry! Couldn´t help myself!"

He stood up and saw how the base was really messed up. After Eggman had blown up the island, just a little was left. There were broken pipes that spitted out fluorescent, green chemical waste which flowed through some channels. There were abandoned jail cells and there were no experimental material at all. There were even some dead trees making the background a little darker than it seemed.

"We should get moving." Silver said walking to a table that had a map on it. He grabbed it and started reading it. "Here." He pointed out.

Sonic looked at it and saw that it was a great maze down there. All sorts of rooms were found there divided into more rooms. Just one central hallway was the one leading the distribution of the base. When Sonic saw where Silver was pointing, it was clearly as the file said, in the core.

"Looks like they really thought about this. They had planned it before. If they locked Shadow in the center, it means that they were really scared of him."

"I don´t know, and I don´t care. Let´s go." Sonic said walking past Silver to the main hallway.

As both headed to the core, being leaded by Sonic, they stared at some rusty signs that were above the doors they passed:

_"__Control Room. Laboratory. Experiments. Secret Files. Main Files. Nursery. Quiet Room."_

"Quiet room?" Sonic asked.

"Maybe it´s a room for them to calm down after being put under stress?"

"…"

After several small passages and a long walk, they finally arrived to their destiny. The door which led to Shadow. Above it, it said:

_"__Center of the Base/Sealer/Power Generator"_

Silver cleared his throat and opened the door slowly. He pushed it a little bit and both advanced. It was dark. They couldn´t see anything, for there was no light that could sparkle the place. Sonic tried to find the ON/OFF switch. He did and click it. The entire room lit up in an instant. And there it was… The sealer with Shadow sleeping inside it.

The pink container was floating vertically. Inside of it, it could be seen that the gas was flowing inside it. Shadow´s hands and feet were tied up into some kind of small boxes, making him unable to move, maybe. He was truly there. Asleep. Destined to be sealed away for eternity…

Sonic felt sick. Shadow, being hated by the blue hedgehog at first, then loved by him as a brother... How could this be happening to them?!

Wihtout further ado, Sonic quickly directed to the control panel and started clicking buttons. Silver approached and asked:

"What are you doing? Do you even know how to control this thing?"

Before the blue blur could answer, metallic steps were heard. They approached fast towards them. The heavy noise resounded in the room. Both hedgehogs turned just to see E-123 Omega getting out his machine gun from his hand. He said:

"Targets acquired. Load and FIRE!"

He started shooting from his hand towards the intruders. Both dodged. Sonic homing attacked to it making the robot fall. Silver grabbed him with his telekinesis and threw him to some shelves. It stood up and prepared with his other arm the machine gun to fire once again. Sonic dashed to him and he flew through the room and crashed into the door. Silver grabbed Omega again and lifted him into the air, making the robot unable to move. Silver gave a sign to Sonic for he could get out Shadow from the sealer. As he tried to find a manual on how the control panel moved, Omega was saying repeatedly:

"Power unknown. Cannot proceed. Power unknown. Shooting down system."

Sonic opened as many drawers as he could and found a thick, dusty pale book. He blew the dust and shook it a little bit. He opened it in the first page and the title said:

"CONTROL PANEL: SEALER 3000"

He passed the sheets fast until he found how to deactivate it. He started pushing some buttons in a sequence and the machine started to beep. Silver now was sweating, for he couldn´t hold Omega any longer. He was using too much of his power. The sealer started to lean down backwards and got to a horizontal position.

Sonic pushed a switch off button and the boxes that were holding Shadow opened. The silver hedgehog pushed Omega into the wall, putting on him pressure. He appeared that he was going to destroy himself, for he had said:

"Auto-destruction authorized. Beginning countdown: 60, 59, 58, 57…"

Sonic was concentrated on what he was doing and didn´t pay attention to Silver´s warning.

"SONIC?! SONIC! This place is going to blow up because of Omega! Hurry up, or we´ll have to leave Shadow behind!"

The gas started to flow through the container, and the sealer opened. A dark creature stood up and got out of its cage. Sonic backed down a little bit approaching to Silver, which was still holding Omega. Both stared at how the shadow was walking towards them, until they finally saw Shadow´s crimson eyes. They were in fury, seeming to be screaming in pain.

He launched to Omega and crushed his head with his right foot, making the countdown stop at 23 seconds for the auto-destruction. Sonic and Silver ran backwards trying to avoid Shadow. He witnessed at how these other hedgehogs were afraid of him. Bravely, the blue hedgehog approached to him slowly as saying:

"Shadow? Hi, I-I´m Sonic. Your friend! You must be very confused, but you gotta trust me, we have to get out of here. Shadow?"

He didn´t answer. Instead he slowly was leading to the door. Silver tried to stop him, but Sonic let him know that it wasn´t necessary.

"Silver, you read the file. It causes some sort of amnesia, temporarily… We just need to wait."

The black blur stared at them in confusion. His head began to hurt. He grabbed it and fell to the ground. He groaned as he started remembering. Suddenly, memories came back to him as fast as lighting. Shadow screamed and passed out. Sonic ran to him and told Silver to help him carrying him.

"What now?" he asked.

"We need to get someplace safe, for Shadow to wake up. It must me horrifying all of this to him. It will be an awful surprise to be here." Sonic replied.

Silver nodded. "I know a place where we could stay for a while. It´s a bank building back in Crisis City on the 10th floor."

"Great, lets´ go."

-O-O-O-

Shadow woke up. He opened his eyes and quickly stood up. There was Sonic sitting in a chair looking outside. He approached to his companion slowly and said astonished:

"So-Sonic?!"

Sonic turned to see Shadow safe and sound standing beside him. He stood up and hugged him. Surprisingly, Shadow returned him the hug. They let go fast because it was awkward. Sonic grabbed his head embarrassed. Shadow smiled in relief.

"I-I don´t understand. Why are you here? And…" Shadow turned to see that the city was on fire.

"That´s Central City, Shad…" Sonic said sighing sadly. "It´s… completely destroyed. I come from the present. I was brought here by accident. I am not meant to be in this timeline. But something happened…"

"I…"

"Shadow? Are you okay? I mean, what happened? Why were you…?"  
The black hedgehog closed his eyes and a small tear rolled from his eyes through his cheek. He opened them again and explained to Sonic:

"The last thing I remember, is that these soldiers were pushing me into the sealer… It felt cold, and I began to fall asleep slowly…"

Sonic sighed. Shadow continued:

"It was just a normal day. I was standing right next to a tree in the outsides of the city. When suddenly, Omega appeared from behind a grabbed my neck. I managed to escape, but he caught up. I remember that we were now in some kind of tunnel. I asked what was wrong with him, when G.U.N troops surrounded me. It seemed that they had him under their control. I tried to do a Chaos Blast, but Omega didn´t allow me to. Every time I tried to expand the ball of blast energy, he punched me. I had no other choice but surrender. They sealed me away in Prison Island once again. And after that, I recall that I smashed Omega´s head and I fainted…"

Sonic grabbed his shoulder and said:

"Shadow, it was us. Silver and I got you out of there. You are safe now. G.U.N doesn´t exist anymore."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It… It seems you´ve been sealed away for more than 17 years."

Shadow felt how his heart was stopping. He heard his breath and he felt how his throat was closing. He sat down and held his head. Sonic sat down next to him trying to comfort him, but it was useless. Shadow was in shock. He stayed like that for an hour. How cruel it would be to be sealed away for a long time again…

Silver returned for he had checked the underground base again to look if they missed something out. He returned with a folder and tried to say hi to Shadow, but he didn´t even notice when Silver arrived.

"What´s wrong with him?"

"He´s in shock. It was quite a surprise…"

"Geez… So, I think we´ve got the answer."

"Answer of what?"  
"I think Mephiles´ companion is this guy." Silver said pointing at the file. Sonic opened it and gasped.

"Oh my gosh…"

* * *

Shadow had been searching all over the world to find this Mephiles guy. Maybe he had Sonic locked down somewhere. He found himself in Green Hill Zone. It was the first time he visited the famous place. He witnessed how the environment was happy and the animals were dancing around. The waterfalls brought peace and quiet to it.

The black hedgehog walked through it and found the green Chaos Emerald. He touched it and he was sent flying backwards. He crashed into a palm and noticed that the black liquid was back. When it started to take his shadow and transform fully, it ran away. Shadow followed fast. He thought he lost him, but found him standing above a rock. With his hoarse voice, he said:

"So, decided to void your return ticket now, did you?"

"Why are you here? Did you ruin this world?"

"The answer´s yes and no. Perhaps it´s better to show you. *SNAP*"

Mephiles made the SEALER 3000 appear right next to him, with future Shadow inside.

"Yes, that´s you. After the world was devastated by Iblis´ flames, what do you think happened? A search for the guilty. Who did this you may ask? Humanity wasn´t just jealous of your power. They feared it."

"…"

"They used this incident as an excuse to hunt you down. Come with me, Shadow. Let us punish this foolish world of humanity. It is only fair to give back what was intended for you. You have every right to want justice."

"That´s absurd… Wait, no… Actually, you´re right… Let´s punish the world for what they did!"

"Yes, Shadow! Let´s end with humanity!"

Shadow smirked. Mephiles looked confused at him.

"You really think I would accept and come with you? Ha! How pathetic… Whatever it is you want to do, you can do it alone. I don´t even know what you´re talking about."

Mephiles got angry and exclaimed as he pointed to the sealer:

"You forgive humanity this folly, then?!"

Shadow looked at it and replied:

"I determine my own destiny." He said clenching his fist.

Mephiles was amused. He extended his arms and evolved to an advanced version of himself. His eyes were now shining light green with a disturbing red in the back. His shape was now kind of crystal and his feet were now gone, for they were transformed into pointy glass with a soft purple tone. His quills also ended with that color, making his crystalline form.

Shadow got into a fighting position and prepared for what was next.

* * *

**Damn those cliffhangers! XDDDDD**

**And, what do you think? G.U.N is still f*cking with us, goddammit!**

**Sorry for the language... But in case you´re wondering why the drama... It feels great to make characters suffer, as weird as it sounds.**

**And the scene from Chaos Madness makes its return!**

**Review? Questions?**


	6. Alone

**HEEEEEY! How are you guys doing? Let me explain something real quick before I forget. In this story Mephiles and the Chaos Emeralds coexist in past, present, and future. For example, you can see that in this moment**** of the story Sonic is talking to future Shadow, while present Shadow is going to fight Mephiles. So, there are two Shadows, but there aren´t two Mephiles or two sets of Chaos Emeralds. Just saying. I hope I didn´t confuse you. Anyway, enjoy, and please review? **

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 6: Alone-

Before the fight, Shadow said one last thing:

"You may be even lying to me. Why should I trust you?"

Mephiles just laughed and started attacking him. He began to levitate and made clones of himself to confuse Shadow. If the hedgehog hit a clone, Mephiles could have the chance of punching him and block his attacks.

For the first time, Shadow knew that this enemy was most likely impossible to defeat. It was one of the few rivals that could fight against him, the first being Sonic.

He started to home attack the shadows and threw a Chaos Spear to Mephiles, which fell to the ground. He reappeared in front of Shadow and with a ball of energy and hit him in the stomach. In pain, Shadow returned the hit and "electrocuted" Mephiles with another spear. He backed down and made more clones of himself.

Shadow tried to find the green Chaos Emerald he left behind when Mephiles appeared. It seemed that the cristal hedgehog had grabbed it. Shadow hovered to him and tried to get the emerald out of him. Successfully, he got from Mephiles´ quills. The creature attacked sending Shadow flying, making him drop the emerald. He stood up and ran to it. Mephiles noticed and sent a clone to stop him. Just when the black hedgehog was about to take it, the clone jumped from behind landing in his back.

Shadow back flipped and crushed the shadow clone. Stretching his hand, he shouted:

"Chaos… Control!"

Everything was now moving slowly. The environment was in stop motion. Shadow grabbed the Chaos Emerald and kept it in his quills. He approached and grabbed Mephiles´ neck, pushing him into the ground, making in "break" a little. The time was moving normal again, and Mephiles stood up exhausted. Shadow, breathing heavily, kicked him in his head, making him fall.

"Sure… you want to continue?" He asked.

Mephiles standing up unbalanced answered:

"I´ll be back…" He stretched his arm in the sky. A purple warp appeared and Mephiles floated to it, disappearing. Shadow stumbled and leaned his fist on the ground. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Who´s Iblis?"

* * *

When Sonic opened the file, he saw a picture of Shadow. He read:

_"__After the capture of Project Shadow, our main scientists have successfully made an exact replica of it. The name of the project is Terios, Project Terios. It is supposed to be the mirror of Project Shadow, having the same abilities and capabilities. _

_Terios, meaning "reflection of" in Japanese, was finished three years after the original project´s capture. Its mind is prepared for anything. The first one who interacts with it, will have the opportunity to use it as he or she wants. But the world isn´t prepared for this, yet. _

_If it is in our hands, we can try and connect it with Iblis, part of the Solaris project."  
__  
_"The Solaris Project?" Sonic and Silver said at the same time. Shadow stood up and replied:

"Yes, the Solaris Project."

"Do you know any of this?" Silver asked.

"Probably more than 200 years in the past, Mephiles will try and convince me to join him to the dark side. He mentioned that the world was devastated by Iblis´ flames."

"So?"

"I sneaked again in Chun-nan´s secret base and discovered that Mephiles and Iblis are part of Solaris. Solaris being the Sun god of Soleanna, a lost city, was found hidden in this place and was brought back to the continent, where the humans could experiment with. They managed to separate both of them, sealing Mephiles apart from Iblis. As you can see, I accidentally set Mephiles free. I guessed his goal now was to fuse with Iblis so I tried to look for him. Sonic was missing, so I had to stop him alone. He escaped and didn´t see him again. The faker returned, saying no word about what happened to him. We didn´t speak to each other for weeks."

"That´s strange… So you know what will happen in the present."

"Of course, Sonic. If my present self doesn´t change anything back there, this timeline will remain the same."

"So, if we don´t do anything in the present, the future will stay like this." Silver said.

"Exactly. You both need to go back to the present and stop Mephiles together, thing that didn´t happen that I remember. So the timeline will be fixed."

Silver nodded and flew out of the building. He landed in the ground and exclaimed:

"I´ll find Mephiles and bring him here, so we can return to the present!" And the whhite hedgehog sprinted away.

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other. Sonic asked:

"Aren´t you gonna come with us?"

"No, I can´t. I´ll stay here if anything happens. I´ll have to deal with this Terios guy anyway… You did a great job for waking me up."

Sonic looked at him surprised with a glimpse of confusion.

"Because it is my duty to carry on and protect the planet that Maria loved so much and…" Shadow made a brief pause. He smiled. "…I get to see you alive once again."

-O-O-O.

Silver found Mephiles and Terios talking to each other.

"I must thank you again for releasing me." Terios said. "But why you freed me instead of Shadow?"

"I was going to free Shadow, but you two are really similar. I found you first, and I didn´t doubt in awakening you. So that´s what happened."

"I see. But you could still have awaken him."

"I remembered that in the past he refused to help me, what if that happened again? I wouldn´t risk everything. I was lucky to find you instead."

Terios smirked. Silver, who was spying on them, took a rock and threw it at him. Mephiles turned and saw the hedgehog showing his tongue at him. Silver shouted woth a sassy voice:

"What´s up Mephiles?!"

Terios flew to him and sent a punched at his face. Silver dodged and kicked him in the head. He teased Mephiles, so he followed. The telekinetic hedgehog flew back to the building where Sonic and Shadow were, being chased by an angry, crystal creature.

-O-O-O-

"Why do you keep staring at my face, Shadow?"

"To remember. You, everything. I won´t forget. I doubt you´ll have to return again. If you have the chance to change this destroyed future, I will still remember."

Sonic smiled. "I know you won´t forget."

…

"Also recalling blowing your ashes to the wind…"

"What?!"  
"Sonic, I saw you died. I remained with your ashes and freed them in South Island. I said goodbye to you, for I thought I would never see you again."

"That´s really horrible. I don´t want to talk about me being dead."

"It will happen eventually."

"But it´s not cool to think about that!"

"Heh. I´m just messing around, faker."

"Heh. You haven´t changed a bit, Shad."

"Anyways, I will suppose that Mephiles was the one who set the world on fire."

"Yes. We don´t know why, but it´s something about avenging Iblis."

"Mm… I never knew what happened to him. But Mephiles couldn´t manage to fuse with him."

"At least that´s the positive side of all this."

There was a big silence. The two of them just kept staring at each other. Probably it was because they made the promise that all the moments both had passed together, would stay in their hearts, until one of them disappeared. Sonic remembered how it used to be, before it all happened. They hated each other so much, just because they looked alike. Their relationship as arch-rivals decreased little by little, until it was totally gone.

"Remember that time when you accidentally fell to the water in Holoska?" Shadow asked.

Sonic nodded. "What about it?"

"Nothing, just wondering if you recalled."

"Of course I remember perfectly. I was freezing! Thanks for pulling me out though."

"It was funny to see how you fell."

"It is weird to hear "funny" coming from you."

"I gotta be honest to you, Sonic. Those moments were priceless."

"Still can´t swim..."

From the distance, Silver was seen hovering to them rapidly. He was choking and landed in front of Sonic and Shadow. They helped him stood up. As he regained his breath he exclaimed:

"We don´t have time. Mephiles is coming!"

Sonic and Shadow shook hands and the blue hedgehog said sighing:

"So long, friend…"

* * *

**Guys, the story is already written down. I can´t add OC´s. Besides, I don´t like working with them. I even hate my own OC! That´s how bad it is... Sorry.  
Oh, one more thing before you go! I actually took dialogues in the Sonic and Shadow scene from a comic on deviantART. It´s called "future_translated_ by **Syesye996. **Go and check it out! **


	7. So Far Away

**Last 4 chapters today! ENJOY! I took inspiration from the song "So Far Away" by RED. **

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 7: So far away-

Mephiles dashed through the building, making the three hedgehogs fell to the ground. Saying no other word, Sonic and Silver got closer to him. The silver hedgehog grabbed him with his telekinesis and the other tried to convince the creature to use his time-travel thingy. Mephiles laughed, but Sonic punched him in the face.

"Do it!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Never…"

Shadow approached to the group. Mephiles was astonished.

"You-You are the real Shadow…"

"Yes, Mephiles. I am."

"How´d you…?"

Shadow didn´t answer. Instead, he prepared a Chaos Spear.

"If you don´t cooperate, this spear will go straight through your head."

"I am immortal as you, fool!"

"Wanna prove it?"

Mephiles remained silent. He created the purple ball of energy. Sonic nodded to Silver and he let Mephiles go. Both hedgehogs jumped to it, leaving Shadow behind with the creature. The crystalline hedgehog approached to the black hedgehog and said:

"It´s been so long."

"Who cares? The moment that they get back and talk to my present self, all this will change. So fighting will not work."

"Remember, Shadow. I co-exist in the different timelines. My mind works as one in the past, present, and future."

Shadow gasped. Without noticing it, Terios kicked him from behind. Mephiles laughed. Shadow stood up staring at his doppelganger fiercely.

"So, you´re Terios."

"And you´re Shadow."

Both launched and grabbed each other´s hands, holding the other´s strength. Shadow tried to push Terios, but it was useless. Both were as fast, as strong, and as agile. If they got into a bigger fight, there would be no winner. But Terios had Mephiles by his side, and he was an admirable adversary.

A light blinked behind Shadow. It was the dark blue Chaos Emerald. But if he grabbed it, it wouldn´t exist in the present. The Chaos Emeralds also co-exist in the timelines. So, he decided to leave it there. He rather wait for the existing time to change.

Mephiles grabbed Shadow from his arms, making him unable to move. Terios started punching him. He seemed to be enjoying it. Shadow spit out blood. The doppelganger kept on punching him fiercely.

The Chaos Emerald seemed to be teasing Shadow. It was slowly approaching to him in secret. He spit out more blood, and it landed on Terios chest fur and muzzle. His black heart made him stop for a while. He grabbed his fist and backed down. Mephiles let go of Shadow. He fell to the ground exhausted and coughing. He asked:

"Te-Terios, why are you doing this? Don´t you get… that Mephiles is leading you… to the dark side…?"

The hedgehog smirked and dragged Shadow to a wall. He bent and looked at him.

"I don´t care. I´m grateful that Mephiles found me. Those damn humans never released me. And he knew I would follow him, no matter what. I am at his command for waking me up."

"I-I know how you feel…"

Terios looked at him in question. Mephiles approached.

"Don´t listen to him, Terios. He´s just trying to confuse you…"

"Wait, Mephiles. Shadow, what you mean?"

Shadow smirked.

"I felt the same hatred for the humans such as you… When I woke up from my eternal sleep more than 200 years ago, I also called the one that stood in front of me my master, for I wanted revenge. Humans made horrible things to me. You don´t imagine how much I suffered… In the end, I discovered that sooner or later, bad guys receive the same pain…"

Terios helped him stood up and Shadow continued talking:

"There… deep in the past… you can find myself struggling to find the answers for my existence. Not remembering anything… Confused… *cough* I-I didn´t know what to do, and the humans weren´t helpful at all. I managed to defeat some of them, and with the help of others, I remembered everything, what was right…"

Mephiles backed down as Terios turned and looked at him angry. He returned to Shadow and said:

"So I was created to be just like you, not knowing the suffering you had experienced?"

Shadow shook his head. He coughed out blood and said:

"Screw it." He launched back and grabbed the Chaos Emerald that had gotten close enough to him.

"What the hell?!" Terios exclaimed.

Shadow raised the Chaos Emerald and with the energy he had left, before Mephiles could do anything about it, he exclaimed:

"Chaos… Control!"

* * *

Sonic and Silver landed in Green Hill Zone. They fell in one of the waterfalls. Silver jumped out of the water and saw how Sonic was yelping, being dragged by the water´s current. The silver hedgehog grabbed him with his telekinesis and brought Sonic to the ground. He shyly said thanks to Silver as both approached to the edge.

"Sonic, look!"

"Is that…?"

It was Shadow walking to the outsides of Green Hill, with the green and dark blue Chaos Emeralds floating around him. It seemed that he received the blue emerald from his future self, even if he didn´t know. As Shadow walked, the others approached.

"Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow turned to see the blue hedgehog running to him with Silver.

"Hey, Sonic! What happened?"

"You won´t believe it!"

"Oh, Silver…"

"Hey… Shadow…"

Both of them were still rivals. Even if they didn´t see each other that much, it was obvious they wouldn´t like the company of the other.

"So, what´s up?"

"We are changing history my friend!" Sonic said enthusiastic hugging Shadow around the neck with his arm.

"What are you talking about?"

"He means that we need to change this timeline to fix the future." Silver explained. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Okay… Sonic, can you please let go of me?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. But let me tell you something real fast, yeah?"

"What?"

"I met your future-self. You will not change one bit!"

"You met my future-self?!"

"We better explain everything to Shadow, Sonic."

"Alright… At least Shadow´s close, now. I felt so far away from you."

"Uh-huh… If it is about Mephiles, you´ll get my full attention."

"It´s about him and worst…" Silver sighed.

* * *

**Review? :3**


	8. Heartbeat

**Any questions? :3**

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 8: Heartbeat-

"This is really messed up!" Shadow protested.

"What do you think?" Silver asked.

"We gotta fight back."

"And I thought it was over…" Sonic demanded.

"Sonic, do you have the emerald?"

He nodded.

"Good, we need to find the other four."

"Three." Silver said confidently.

Shadow turned to him and asked: "Three?"

"Yes, three." He pulled the red emerald out of his quills. Sonic gave a quick glance at it. "I found it when Mephiles and Terios were following me." He smirked.

"At least we only got to worry about Mephiles. That other guy gave me the chills, even if he looked like Shad here." Sonic said quivering nervously.

"Why?" Shadow asked.

"I dunno. Just saying."

"Anyways, the other emeralds could be hiding anywhere!" Silver exclaimed worried.

"We don´t have to be concerned about that, pal!"

"Huh?"

"Did you know that Shadow can detect chaos energy?"

Silver looked surprised at the black hedgehog. He looked deeply into his eyes. He felt how his dark soul were striking back at his stare. His amber eyes shared the same fear as the crimson ones. They both got along and turned away at the same time, resembling the hate they had for each other.

Shadow nodded and said: "We need to hurry. There´s not enough time, and you know it." He pointed at the silver hedgehog.

"So, you ready to go?" Sonic asked excited. He tapped his right foot on the floor and grabbed Shadow´s hand.

"What are you doing, faker?! Let go of me!"

"I want to take you for a ride!"

And the blue hedgehog took off, pulling Shadow by his side. Silver shook his head sighing and followed quickly.

* * *

Mephiles launched to the spot where Shadow was supposed to be, but he was gone. Terios turned to look at him. Without any other options, the crystal hedgehog ordered the other to look for the missing one.

"Find him, and bring him alive, and I also need the Chaos Emerald he keeps. I´ll go to the present to check things again. I have to fight present Shadow and have my revenge."

Terios, shocked and confused, nodded and skated through Crisis City.

* * *

The black hedgehog hid in a tunnel in the outsides of the city. He held his stomach and gasped in pain. But he noticed something he didn´t realize when he got to the tunnel… It was here… The most awful day for Shadow. The day when he surrendered to G.U.N.

_-FLASHBACK-_

Shadow tried to get away fast but Omega shot him, making the hedgehog fall to the ground. He leaned on a wall. It was covered with graffiti and a legend that said: "Sonic Was Here". He closed his eyes and turned to Omega right after that. Shadow stood up and shouted at Omega.

"Why are you doing this? Omega? Can´t you remember?"

The robot didn´t respond. Instead, he walked towards him and prepared his machine gun coming out of its arm. A beep sounded. It was coming out of Omega´s back. Every time it was beeping faster and faster until it was just a scratching sound. Suddenly, helicopters were flying above the tunnel. Their propellers were spinning fast and sounded like the motor was running furiously. A missile was shot. It destroyed the front part of the place, making huge cracks in it. Shadow and Omega stumbled. The hedgehog thought:

"I don't have other choice…"

He exclaimed: "Chaos…" Before he could finish, Omega punched him sending him flying. He crushed a wall and fell. He stood up again and tried it one more time.

"Chaos… Bla-…"

Once again, the robot punched him not allowing the chaos ability to be done. Shadow looked at him and wondered how his friend could have become to this.

GUN soldiers started to enter the tunnel. There were at least fifty of them and like four helicopters surrounding the area. Omega pointed at him with his weapon and said:

"_Surrender now, or we´ll have to take you by force._"

Shadow prepared a Chaos Spear but before he could throw it, unexpectedly, he received an electrical shot. A soldier shoot it at him with a small weapon while he was distracted. Shadow screamed in agony and fell to the ground. Other two soldiers approached and handcuffed him. They pulled him up to make the hedgehog stand up. Everyone exited the tunnel and entered to a military truck.

The helicopters flew away from Shadow´s sight as he noticed how the vehicle was approaching to Prison Island. A ramp opened on the floor leading to the underground base. The truck entered to it. The soldiers made Shadow get down and got into the SEALER 3000 room. In the way, the scientists stared at him. He felt disturbed by this and tried not to think about it.

In the room, Shadow tried to fight back, but it was no use. Omega made sure he wasn´t using his powers in there. He also checked if he had any Chaos Emeralds with him, which made his suspicions true. Shadow held the green emerald with him all the time now, but managed to take it away from him, making the black hedgehog unable to use Chaos Control. As stated by Mephiles, Shadow was sealed away for eternity, or that´s what the humans thought…

_-END-OF-FLASHBACK-_

Shadow opened his eyes and found himself touching the wall where Sonic´s name was written a long time ago, still holding with his other hand his stomach. He cried, but wiped away his tears. He had to be strong, because that future was not going to happen.

He thought how he wouldn´t remember this time. All the pain he had felt was going to disappear, forever. If he had luck, GUN wouldn´t follow him anymore. Besides, that´s why Sonic had been there. He told the blue hedgehog to change the present, so he could have a better future, and Shadow knew he was going to make it.

Why? Because he was the only person he knew capable to open his heart and fight for what was right.

* * *

The sky turned gray as even grayer clouds covered it completely. There wouldn´t be a sunset today. Small drops of water started to fell slowly to the ground from it. It seemed like if they were dancing to the rhythm of Sonic´s footsteps.

The group walked and picked the purple Chaos Emerald. Sonic looked up to see that more clouds started to show off and lighting appeared, making shocking thunders sound heavily into the hedgehog´s ears.

"Is it raining season?" He asked.

"No, and it very rarely rains in the desert. Think about it, we´re in Wild Canyon!" Shadow exclaimed somehow scolding Sonic for his stupid question. Silver grabbed the emerald and said: "Well, here´s the last one…"

They all pulled out all the emeralds. Sonic counted by color:

"Let´s see… Red, Yellow, Green, both Blues, Purple, and White. There! We´re ready!"

"Excellent job…"

The three hedgehogs turned to see Mephiles clapping to them slowly from behind in a very mysterious way. He flew to them and made a wild flame crush them that launched out for the emeralds.

"Iblis! We´re finally together!"

"!"

"Hahahaha… you didn´t know, right?"

"What we didn´t know?!" Shadow exclaimed furiously as standing up.

"Iblis was sealed in different parts inside the emeralds. You may have been using them without knowing what was inside of them. Only I could help my friend. I was going to look for the emeralds, but you saved me a lot of my time, you fools!"

Silver gasped and joint an incredible amount of rocks and pillars, making a humongous ball with the material, and threw it at Mephiles. He dodged and dragged the emeralds through the air fast enough for Silver to catch up. As the Chaos Emeralds floated to him, Shadow fought Iblis retaining it from joining with Mephiles and Sonic, alongside Silver, tried to distract the crystal hedgehog from doing it.

Mephiles punched both hedgehogs and made them crash into a wall. It started to crumble and fell on top of both hedgehogs, making them unable to move beneath the rumble. Silver managed to get out first holding Mephiles with his psychokinesis and launched him to the Iblis who stumbled because of Shadow´s attacks.

The crystal hedgehog opened a portal.

"You´re not getting away, Mephiles!" Silver shouted as the black hole was starting to drag him in, not noticing about it. "You won´t escape this time."

"The portal isn´t taking me."

Silver looked at him furiously.

"It´s taking you." The white hedgehog was now floating being sucked into the portal. He tried to fly away, but the incredible force from the air wouldn´t allow him to. Shadow watched astonished how Silver extended his arm trying to reach out for him, but the ultimate life form couldn´t do anything about it. He heard Silver´s last words that where whispered to him when the white hedgehog was being taken away: "I believe in you!" And he disappeared into nothingness.

Shadow rested from the current of wind that took Silver away. He clenched his fist and exclaimed: "This is the end of the line, Mephiles! This ends right here and right now!"

* * *

**Ow the Edge... Review? :3**


	9. Already Over

**We´re just missing this chapter and one more to go! ENJOY! Inspiration taken from the song "Already Over" by RED.**

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 9: Already Over-

Sonic got out of the destroyed pillar and appeared next to Shadow being followed by a cloud of dust. He was hurt. His gloves were all ripped off and he had a lot of bruises that covered his body. He had an angry smirk expressed in his face, looking straight up to Mephiles, who was in front of Iblis, preparing their next attack.

Sonic noticed that Silver was gone and that Shadow was raging. He didn´t even bother in asking how was him after the collapse. Sonic´s skin started to feel cold as he hugged himself trying not to faint. He closed his eyes strongly and deliberately started spin dashing. He attacked at Mephiles and pushed him to the ground. Shadow quickly responded by throwing three Chaos Spears to Iblis, making it roar. He took one of the Chaos Emeralds, but Iblis´ fireballs made him lose it throwing it to the air and following to the ground.

It quickly grabbed the emerald and followed Mephiles, which stood up and launched a purple energy ball to Sonic and crashed with Shadow. Both got back to his feet and sent a heavy punch at Iblis. It let go of the emerald and got back to Shadow´s hands again.

There were thunders heard from the distance. The rain heavily fell on them making everyone wet. The dense air busted through the group, pushing them a little. Mephiles noticed how Iblis was slowly "melting" because of the drops of water touching its fire body. With this known, he had to fuse with it, and fast. He turned to Sonic and Shadow which were in bad shape. As he focused on the Chaos Emerald the black hedgehog held, he yelled secretly to Iblis:

"Distract them!"

As said, the fire monster slapped both hedgehogs with its lava tail. Sonic attacked back and hit one of its eye. In return, Iblis tried to step on him, but he was too slow for the little hedgehog. When Shadow stood up, Mephiles took advantage of the situation and sent a spiky spear towards him.

Shadow gasped. He looked at his body being crossed by the spear… He felt how it painfully slowly went out when Mephiles return it to his hand. Shadow fell to his knees. He put his hand in the wound as blood came out, and fell to the ground in agaony. He dropped the Chaos Emerald and fainted. Sonic turned just to see his buddy in the wet ground. He dashed through Iblis and leaned down next to Shadow. He held his hand and started calling for him:

"Shad…? Shadow?! SHADOW!"

Mephiles sneaked behind him and took the emerald. He levitated and made the Chaos Emeralds surround him. Iblis transformed into a fire river also surrounding Mephiles. They both began to fuse with each other with the help of the seven miracle gems until they transformed into Solaris, the Sun God. Shining like the sun, Solaris floated away from the hedgehogs and went towards the sky, disappearing in the middle of the clouds, above the storm.

Sonic moved Shadow slowly still calling out for his partner. He began to worry when Shadow woke up coughing. He looked at Sonic, which was crying of either happiness or sadness to see him okay, and smiled. Shadow put his hand in Sonic´s face and asked:

"Why are you crying, faker?"

Sonic grabbed his hand and smiled too, still crying. Shadow´s hand dropped to his body, protecting his wound. The left side of Sonic´s face was now covered with blood. He kneeled and still held his friend´s other hand.

The rain was mixed with the blood and dripped down their bodies, as the sound of the drops of water was the only thing that was heard, aside from Shadow´s gasps, still fighting for his life.

"So-Sonic… You have… to stop Mephiles…" Shadow yelped.

"But, I can´t leave you alone!" Sonic shouted to him expressing how worried he was. "And I can´t fight without you, you´re my best friend!"

Shadow tried to not acknowledge the fact of being alone with the blue hedgehog. He started to feel weaker. Was he really about to die? Had Mephiles reached the ultimate life form´s limit? Was it even possible for him to vanish just like that?

The black hedgehog´s sight was blurry now. He almost didn´t recognize Sonic anymore. He stated relieving all the good times he had experienced. He now was sure that this was the end.

But… there were voices in his head that started confusing him. They were speaking all at the same time that Shadow couldn´t understand any of them. He shut his eyes as he was warped into a black wallpaper, and the voices were clearer now, still talking at the same time. It was not until Shadow felt a warm sensation in his stomach that the voices declared at the same time:

**_"_****_YOU MUST LIVE!"_**

The Chaos Emeralds suddenly appeared in the environment and started approaching to the hedgehogs willing to help. They started to shine brightly and started to spin around the pair. Sonic looked how the emeralds were determined on helping them. He stood up and helped Shadow to do so, who had received a small amount to energy to regain consciousness. They both nodded at each other and closed their eyes. When they opened them, the hedgehogs were in their Super form. Sonic´s and Shadow´s wounds were all gone thanks to the power of the emeralds and faster than a blink, they both dashed towards where Solaris was headed, at the top of the world, in the heaven of clouds. In the background, there were thunders roaring with fierce as the storm rushed through Wild Canyon. The rain fell even stronger now.

With the hope they had left, Shadow and Sonic encountered Solaris for the final battle.

* * *

Shadow smiled as he found Terios trying to suffocate him, holding his neck with all his might.

"I already told you, Terios… I´m not the bad guy here." Shadow said as his voice got smaller. Terios threw him down. He smirked and laughed:

"Do you really think I still want to kill you?"

Shadow looked at him confused. He stood up as Terios extended his hand. He backed down as the other insisted in shaking hands. Finally, they both did. Terios smiled and said:

"I know that I might disappear, because this future is not going to happen. And soon, all of this will be over, so I´ll try to make everything right until then."

Silver clapped his hands sarcastically as he entered the tunnel slowly.

"Bravo, bravo. Terios found his place in the world."

"Shut up, silver boy."

"Silver?! What happened?" Shadow asked approaching to the new comer.

Silver closed his eyes and said:

"I don´t know. Mephiles teleported me back here. All depends now in Sonic and your present self. If this ends soon, I just wanted to say that I´ll wait for you."

Shadow nodded. "We´ll finally meet up."

"What do you want to do now?" Silver asked to Terios. He crossed his arms and didn´t replied. "I mean… you aren´t with Mephiles anymore, right?"

"No, my plan is to stay with you until this is over."

The three hedgehogs exited the tunnel and jumped into the tallest building of the city. They waited there for the beginning of a new future. Silver talked to Terios and Shadow just stood in the edge of the roof, staring at the burning city. He looked up and stared into the empty, red sky. He sighed and said to himself:

"I will try to find my place in this world. I´ll do whatever it takes, and I´ll do my best, because I haven´t found my place in the present, at least yet. With all this, I figured out that everyone should enjoy their lives as long as they live. And as long as Sonic´s alive, I am going to tell him every day, that he´s the best thing that has happened to me. A real friend… that changed my life forever."

* * *

Sonic and Shadow put themselves right beside Solaris and started attacking him. Shadow threw as many Chaos Spears as he could and Sonic home attacked at its body, making it more vulnerable. In the battle, both could hear Mephiles trying to distract them:

_"__You´re never going to make it!"_

_"__The world must be very disappointed of you two."_

_"__Behold how I bring to this world the darkness it deserves!"_

_"__Join me, Shadow…"_

Sonic stopped attacking and turned to Shadow, which listened carefully:

_"__Let us teach this world a lesson and rewrite the future."_

"Don´t try to deceive me." Shadow exclaimed.

_"__What?"_

"You have no desire for revenge. You only crave destruction. Your only lust is to destroy the world, until there is nothing left."

Mephiles took a deep breath.

_"__It´s a pity, Shadow the Hedgehog. Truly a shame that you wish to go against me once again!"_

Solaris transformed into its second phase. It extended its "metallic winds" and roared, making the sky shake as the violent storm kept going underneath them. Sonic and Shadow joined and started to spin dash. They both hit Solaris over and over again in loops. They took turns to punch the creature. It was exhausting for the hedgehogs, and Solaris hadn´t taken any damage at all. It fired an energy blast, making the blue hedgehog lose his balance. Solaris through a meteor at him, making Sonic a bit unconscious. Shadow dashed through the core, this time making a bit of damage to the monster. It now fire nine lasers being sent towards Shadow, which dodged them all.

"We´re not getting anywhere!" Shadow exclaimed.

Solaris threw his lasers again and hit Shadow, sending him flying in circles. He stopped moving and took a deep breath.

_"__You must realize now that you cannot hope to stop me with your limited power."_

Shadow looked up to him. "So you say…"

_"__It´s futile. The world will betray you. Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?"_

Shadow grabbed his wrists. "If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have!"

Sonic approached to him and saw how the black hedgehog removed his inhibitor rings. One by one they fell down and landed seconds later in the dirt. He nodded to Sonic and blasted out energy out of his body. Both said:

"The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos…"

They dashed to Solaris and exclaimed:

"Chaos… Control!"

The time stopped and both dashed through Solaris´ core, spinning faster and faster for it to destroy itself. Shadow screamed in victory:

"IT´S OVER, MEPHILES!"

_"__NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

And Solaris was being defeated. It fell from the sky and before making contact with the ground, it exploded, disappearing forever.

Shadow closed his eyes and his Super form was gone. He began to fell slowly, as if the Chaos Control was still working on him. Suddenly, Shadow felt a hand wrapping his wrist… Sonic´s hand.

"Yeah… I´m not letting that happen again."

He descended and put the black hedeghog on the ground and transformed into normal Sonic. Shadow put on his inhibitor rings and gently smiled back to Sonic. The blue hedgehog gave him a thumbs up.

The rain stopped and the gray clouds faded away. The sunset shone brightly and the sand started to dry. The cool wind arrived and our heroes could finally rest.

* * *

**This was a pain to write that I literally cried... Review? :3**


	10. Bring Me To Life

**Last chapter! WOOT! This chapter counts as an epilogue, so it won´t be as long as the others... Anyway... Thanks so much for reading this story! I really appreciate it. ENJOY MY DEAR READERS!**

* * *

**Darkness Shall Thrive**

-Chapter 10: Bring Me To Life-

Shadow and Sonic moved through the desert slowly and softly. The moon arose and Tikal´s smiling face could be seen in it, proud of both hedgehogs. The stars brightly shining encouraged the blurs to keep moving forward to arrive home that night. The cool environment made everything quiet and lonely. There was no one there, except for our heroes that every time they took a step, they went faster. There were happy expressions in both faces. After a while, they found themselves running. They finally arrived to the outsides of Station Square, but stopped there. They looked at each other in confidence. Shadow opened his mouth as to say something, but quickly shut it. He looked closely at Sonic and noticed his eyes had a blink of satisfaction. Sonic said:

"Shadow… I… I wonder why this all had to happen."

The black hedgehog took a step back and answered:

"It just had to."

"At least this is over now. Maybe tomorrow will happen something new and we´ll have to save the day, AGAIN. But what can I say? Things happen for a reason, right?"

Shadow nodded. "Beginnings come at random, but endings always have a reason."

Sonic laughed. "True. Now you´re a poet!"

"Heh."

"So, what now?"

"We wait for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why?"

"Because it will lead us to a better place, where darkness shall not thrive, where good alights the world, and where your friends wait for you. Anxious for your return."

Sonic maintained his eyes wide opened when Shadow said that. He didn´t say anything, just a nervous smile came out of him and a shy giggle.

Both approached to the shore and entered Emerald Coast. They sat down and felt how the ocean rushed through the beach, touching their skin.

Sonic closed his eyes and smelled the fresh air. The wind was blowing softly, making his quills move alongside it.

Shadow thought about what was next. There was a long path ahead of them, with new challenges, maybe new enemies. He cleared his mind and looked to Sonic, which was falling asleep little by little as the moon moved through the dark sky across the deep sea in front of them.

* * *

Silver ran to Shadow and scared him from behind. He got angry and punched softly the silver hedgehog in the face. Both laughed and sat down in the café´s chairs. Both had been having a great time together. Now they defended the city as a team. There were not a lot of problems, so they could just relax for a really long time. Eggman Nega had spent more time on Blaze´s dimension in the present, so there was no conflict.

The black and white hedgehogs walked through Spagonia, watching how the people were happy. This is what Silver wanted, what he fought for, what he struggled for…

And this is also what Shadow wanted, rest from GUN. They finally understood what his purpose of being there was. They even offered the hedgehog to join them, but he declined. GUN respected that. Shadow just said that they should leave him be, so that´s the way it went.

The hedgehogs stopped and talked for a while about what had been of Shadow´s present self and about how Sonic flew away with the winds after a long time. They ended up sleeping in a rooftop of the city, Shadow thinking of how their lives changed so sudden when Mephiles appeared, how all this started, and how it ended.

* * *

Sonic started to lean down until his back hit the warm, white sand. He put his arms behind his head and fell asleep. Shadow did the same minutes later, after staring one more time at the stars. He had a quick review of his life. He remembered Maria, how he met Sonic, how they became arch-rivals, and ended up being best friends. He recalled about all the problems the Eggmen and GUN had caused, how it almost killed both of the hedgehogs. And finally, he finished with the good memory of being together, not alone, as most of his life had been. He shut down his eyes and said to himself:

"I´ll never forget…"

**-THE END-**

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"SOOOOOOOOONIC!" Amy shouted as Sonic woke up scared. "You forgot about our date, AGAIN!"

Sonic found himself laid on a palm near the beach, Emerald Coast to be precise. He stood up stopping Amy from attacking him, looking at her confused.

"What´s the matter, Sonic?" Amy noticed how her hero was a bit overwhelmed.

"Oh, it´s nothing." Sonic said while staring at the beautiful sunset, still a bit confused. "Where´s… Tails?" He asked trying not to let Amy know he was worried about his little brother.

"Tails is at his workshop trying to build some kind of jetpack in the Mystic Ruins."

"Mm… And Knuckles?"

"That knucklehead is with Tails giving him his horrible advices about how to look out for the Master Emerald, if him isn´t guarding it right now. I mean, what´s with that echidna, right?"

Sonic hugged Amy and kissed her forehead. Amy shocked for a moment and the blue hedgehog just smiled in relief.

"Alright then, let´s go and check on them!" Sonic exclaimed as he rushed to see his friends.

"Hey, Sonic! WAIT FOR ME! Ugh, he´s such a brat sometimes…" Amy reacted and angrily chased after Sonic.

From the distance, a lone black hedgehog stared from afar. He looked at the blue hedgehog smiling. And he skated off to the mountains, when the sun was hiding, and the moon, was rising.

**-THE END-**

* * *

**Were you expecting that ending? Or did it take you by surprise? REAAAAAAAAAAD!**

**"SURVIVE" SAGA**

**Written by: PurpleComet5**

**Inspiration taken by: shadow759, BalenaProductions (YouTube) and people on DeviantArt.**

**THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!**

**I really enjoyed writing this fanfiction, and I´m glad you liked it too!**

**I´ll be back sometime soon, though ;)**

**P.S: I´ll be writing one-shots for this SAGA. They´re probably be the next things I upload.**

**See ya until then!**

**-PurpleComet5**

**Please listen to "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence, as it counts as main theme song of Darkness Shall Thrive!**

**Some dialogues taken by official Sonic games and comics made by fans.**

**(I don´t own Sonic, Shadow, or any other characters that appear in this SAGA except for Commander Jason, Samantha Johnson, and Terios the Hedgehog. They belong to their rightful owners: SEGA and Sonic Team. You should already know all this, but just to be safe…)**

**THANK YOU :´)**

**Please fave if you want to see the sequel to SURVIVE: Meltdown. **

**And review one last time? :3**


	11. UPDATE! IMPORTANT!

**LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL**

**HAPPY APRIL FOOLS´DAY!**

**WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!**


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